After a few hours' relief from blackouts Eskom has announced that stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 5pm on Sunday until 4pm on Monday.

“Stage 5 loadshedding will be implemented during the evenings at 4pm until midnight from Monday to Wednesday. Loadshedding will vary between stage 4 and stage 2 during the day until Wednesday,” it said.

The power utility said changes in the stages of loadshedding will be more erratic due to the absence of the buffer normally provided by diesel generation capacity between generating unit breakdowns.

According to Eskom, the increased implementation of loadshedding is mainly due to high levels of breakdowns and depleted emergency generation reserves.

“Three units at Kusile power station are offline due to the duct (chimney structure) failure late in October and will remain offline for a few months while repairs to the chimney system take place. Unit 1 of Koeberg nuclear power station will continue to generate at a reduced output over the next three weeks as the fuel is depleted ahead of the refuelling and maintenance outage scheduled to commence in December 2022,” it said.

Since Sunday morning a generating unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei and Majuba power stations had been taken offline for repairs.

It said a generating unit at Kriel power station had been returned to service.

The power utility has 5,354MW on planned maintenance, while another 14,495MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

“Loadshedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.”

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